1. Field Of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a strain isolator assembly and, more particularly, to an isolator assembly for minimizing mechanical thermal and vibrationary strains between two interconnected structures.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
There exist many situations wherein two structures must be secured together in a high thermal and/or vibration environment. In so, me situations, it may be necessary or desirable to minimize thermal and vibrationary transfers between the two structures. In these situations, a strain isolating mounting arrangement may be required. Under these conditions, such mounting arrangements will often be subject to stresses which can lead to fatigue failure.
An example of an environment wherein a mounting arrangement is subject to extreme heat and vibration factors is in jet engines. For instance, it is common in the art of jet engines to mount a hot air blower tube within a cowling surrounding the air intake passage of the engine for de-icing purposes or to maintain a substantially laminar intake air flow. Such tubes are generally mounted to an end wall of the jet engine casing, within the cowling, by means of a bracket. It is not uncommon for such tubes to reach temperatures of about 600.degree. F. and to be subject to varying degrees of vibration during operation of the jet engine. These factors combine to cause these mounting arrangements to be prone to fatigue failures of the support bracket structure which can create a dangerous condition if not readily detected.
Therefore, there exists a need in the art for an isolation mounting arrangement that will resist fatigue failure even in high thermal and vibration environments.